Former DPP legislator Chou Po-lun's (
From a judicial perspective, Chou's sentencing is not a matter of political influence leading to a wrongful sentence. His accusation that five Supreme Court judges handed down their ruling without a careful review, his request for an extraordinary re-trial and a farewell party to see him off to jail were nothing more than an attempt to create a political future for himself once he gets out of jail. None of these things will have an impact on the justness of the judiciary.
Chou is one of the few serving legislators to be convicted and sent to jail in the past decade or so -- although he lost his seat last month when he was found guilty. During the KMT-era, the only ones to go to jail were former legislators Huang Hsin-chieh (
But Chou has been closely associated with President Chen Shui-bian (
But Chou is not the only leading light of the DPP to face legal problems because of corruption allegations. Yu Chen Yueh-ying (
In the KMT era the judiciary was always a political tool. The KMT leadership even allowed some politicians to get away after they were implicated in corruption cases. Former legislator Wu Tse-yuan (
The actions of the DPP administration, in contrast, have been a major improvement in terms of judicial independence. The party demanded Chou respect the judiciary's ruling while Yu Chen resigned as senior advisor to the president as soon as she was indicted.
The DPP was elected because the people resented the KMT's legacy of corruption. In the three years of DPP rule, there have been corruption cases at both the central and local government levels, such as the vote-buying scandal in the Kaohsiung City Council speaker's election. But the DPP has tried hard to avoid falling into the "black gold" quagmire. So far it has managed to keep itself clean fairly well -- despite allegations from opposition politicians.
Eradication of corruption and self-discipline will be key issues in next year's presidential election. Candidates who cannot rid themselves of "black gold" tar will not win the support of voters.
Congratulations to China’s working class — they have officially entered the “Livestock Feed 2.0” era. While others are still researching how to achieve healthy and balanced diets, China has already evolved to the point where it does not matter whether you are actually eating food, as long as you can swallow it. There is no need for cooking, chewing or making decisions — just tear open a package, add some hot water and in a short three minutes you have something that can keep you alive for at least another six hours. This is not science fiction — it is reality.
Kinmen County’s political geography is provocative in and of itself. A pair of islets running up abreast the Chinese mainland, just 20 minutes by ferry from the Chinese city of Xiamen, Kinmen remains under the Taiwanese government’s control, after China’s failed invasion attempt in 1949. The provocative nature of Kinmen’s existence, along with the Matsu Islands off the coast of China’s Fuzhou City, has led to no shortage of outrageous takes and analyses in foreign media either fearmongering of a Chinese invasion or using these accidents of history to somehow understand Taiwan. Every few months a foreign reporter goes to
The war between Israel and Iran offers far-reaching strategic lessons, not only for the Middle East, but also for East Asia, particularly Taiwan. As tensions rise across both regions, the behavior of global powers, especially the US under the US President Donald Trump, signals how alliances, deterrence and rapid military mobilization could shape the outcomes of future conflicts. For Taiwan, facing increasing pressure and aggression from China, these lessons are both urgent and actionable. One of the most notable features of the Israel-Iran war was the prompt and decisive intervention of the US. Although the Trump administration is often portrayed as
Czech military intelligence last week revealed that Chinese diplomats and intelligence officers followed Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and allegedly planned to stage an incident during her visit to Prague last year. In March last year, Czech media reported that a Chinese diplomat ran a red light while tailing Hsiao’s car. A Czech public radio news Web site reported on Thursday that Chinese officials also had plans to stage a car crash, a claim later confirmed by Czech military intelligence. The radio report cited a Czech Military Intelligence spokesperson who described the incident as “a case of physically following, to the point